Platoon (1986) is a war movie that mainly explores the psychology of
fear. The movie is too long and stereotyped.
Taylor is a soldier in the American army, one of the many in the
Vietnamese invasion. He is stressed, disappointed, disgusted.
The long and exhausting treks in the jungle, the continuous sights of death,
the suspense that reigns over their every move, the arguments between soldiers,
are taking a toll on his psyche.
The platoon is run by a rude but effective sergeant with a scar, Barnes,
who often does not even consult with the commander. The only one who doesn't
take orders from him is Elias, an experience and much more humane soldier.
Barnes takes a few of the
soldier with him for a mission in the jungle.
Taylor is inexperienced and not very motivated. When the Vietnamese attack the
camp, he is petrified and almost lets them surprise everybody. He gets a little
scratch and almost faints.
Back to the barracks, he is assigned to humble chores, is initiated to drugs by
Elias.
Again in the jungle, they find one of them tortured by the vietnamese.
Elias behaves like a native of the jungle.
Later they stumble into a village. The Americans terrorize the peasants.
Even Taylor loses his temper and terrorizes a young man who was hiding.
The kid is half blind. Taylor breaks down. Another soldier smashes the skull
of the kid and then jokes about it.
The evil Barnes is interrogating a man when the wife intervenes and starts
shouting. Barnes shoots her. The daughter of the dead woman starts
screaming. Barnes grabs the child and threatens to shoot her too if
the man does not talk. Elias arrives just in time and jumps on
Barnes. The two fight like animals until the commander stops them
and commands them to burn the village.
The Americans leave the smoking ruins of the
village. Back to the barracks, Elias wants Barnes courtmartialed, but the matter
is postponed by the superiors. The groups splits in two: the animals who side
with Barnes, and the humans who side with Elias.
The platoon falls in an ambush. The casualties are heavy and it rains.
Taylor gets carried away. Elias is leading the charge. Barnes orders Taylor
and the others to withdraw and promises to alert Elias. Elias is alone fighting
the enemy like a lion, and Barnes is following him. Barnes shoots Elias who
is smiling at him. Taylor, who sensed trouble, arrives too late: Barnes tells
him that Elias is dead and that they have to leave.
Everybody leaves on the helicopters, but as they are taking off they see one
of their man running, chased by the vietnamese: it's Elias, still alive,
who would have escaped if they had not taken off. Taylor tells the other
soldiers what happened, that Barnes is responsible for Elias' death.
Then the real battle erupts. The vietcong overrun the Americans and massacre
almost all of them. Even in the middle of the battle, Barnes proves to be
an animal and almost kills Taylor. The Americans bomb the area to stop the
advance of the vietcongs, and this saves Taylor's life. When he comes to life
again, he is surrounded by corpses. He wanders through the mass of corpses
until he finds Barnes, wounded but still alive. Taylor executes Barnes in
cold blood.
Taylor is one of the few survivors, is rescued by a patrol and is transported
to a military hospital.
The villagers are petrified.
Taylor witnessed senseless acts of cruelty against
unarmed peasants, but, more telling, the
indifference of the soldiers.
The two sergeants represent two different views of war. One is a crusader,
an idealist who knows what the war is all about;
the other is "reality", as he puts it: war's real face is an animal fight
for survival and domination.
The vietcongs, whom would be the true enemies, remain anonymous, reduced to
natural catastrophe, like the rains and the snakes. The true enemies, the ones
with a face and a name, are within the platoon itself. It is within the platoon
that the real war is fought, between a meaning of life and another.